The Hao family estate is an expansive compound overlooking the glittering bay. It's a place that's rarely quiet, as even at night, servants moved through its corridors with disciplined steps and lights glowed from ancestral halls.
But tonight was different.
Tonight, the silence was unnatural, heavy and pressing.
Every senior member of the family had been summoned to the main hall without explanation. It's an event so rare that even the oldest among them could count the number of times it had happened on one hand. When the Hao patriarch called a midnight gathering, it was never trivial.
Inside the hall, tension pooled like storm clouds.
Tall columns rose toward the ceiling murals depicting the family's history—military victories, political ascensions, economic triumphs.
The Hao family had ruled Macau in everything except name. Their influence seeped into banks, construction, hospitality, government branches, and even the shadows beneath it all.
